Too many potatoes!

Yes, that's what we had for last winter. We ate all we could but in the end they started to sprout and we started to buy potatoes.
Talk about sprouting:

oh well, Cliff planted quite a few today but hopefully not too many again. Too bad we cannot eat the sprouts, they would make quite a few meals ☺
I picked marjoram and oregano this morning for drying. We have 2 big patches. I also like to use them fresh. While I was in the garden I noticed more rapini were ready to collect.
We watched a whole flock of  swallows flying around our garage but never saw any going into the 2 swallow nests on the gable of the garage. It almost seems as if they found another home and just come around once in awhile. It will be interesting to see what's in the nests when the swallows leave for the winter.
I wanted to get a loaf of bread from the freezer but could not find any, so tomorrow is bread baking day. Good thing I had some german bread to fall back on for supper tonight. We have our warm meal at lunch time that way we don't go to be with a big meal in our stomachs.
Good night everybody ☺

We were lucky!

Going to Kelowna last weekend happened in bright sunshine. The week before the roads were snowed in and we just heard on the News that snow is again expected on the Coquihalla. How did we manage to pick out the one weekend with good weather?? It really makes me happy.
Yesterday I bought 18 Early Girl tomato plants, 1 cherry tomato plant and 6 broccoli plants. Cliff has been working hard at planting all of it. The 18 Early Girl are under cloches and the cherry tomato is on the balcony on top of a creeper that Cliff had extra. Now we can wheel it around the balcony to the sunny or shady side which ever is appropriate.
I planted some seeds in pots and have them sitting in front of the patio door in the living room; lettuce, basil and cucumbers. I still have a few different plants to seed but not just yet.
Yesterday I grilled a boneless eye of rib steak on our George Foreman Grill for the first time. Boy was that good!! I developed a taste for tender beef steak on our trip to Kelowna where Sonja's friend barbecued some for us. They were sooo tasty. Now my grocery bill will go up!!!
For the last few days I cooked Rapini Greens from the garden. They are very tender and good but I am
sure they are not everybody's cup of tea. Pretty soon we will be able to harvest our own lettuce again, that will be a happy day.
No other News so....
Good night everybody

Back Home

Last Thursday we left on a trip to see Sonja in Kelowna. We had a very good time and the weather was outstanding. The Coquihalla was a joy to drive both ways. Of course I only have to sit in the passenger seat and enjoy the scenery. It was very beautiful with snow still on the mountains. We had planned to leave a week earlier but the weatherman had a storm in store so we delayed our trip a week and we are sure glad we did.
On Thursday Sonja cooked a great dinner and then we relaxed. Friday was a shopping day and Saturday night we played Rumoli with Sonja's friends. We had a really good time but I don't think we will be invited to play again because Cliff won most of the nickles we played with. ☺
Sunday afternoon we visited Friends from Kelowna we used to camp with in Arizona and had a look at their beautiful Motorhome and new Jeep. I was very envious ☺. We could not stay long because we were invited to a barbecue at Sonja's friend's place. We had some nice wine and then some great tasting rib steaks that Herb barbecued with corn, baked potato and a green salad.
During our stay Cliff hiked twice with Sonja and her friends. I held down the fort while they were gone.
The ferry ride home was very pleasant on the "New to us" "Coastal Renaissance" and the weather was still sunny. Getting up this morning was a different story... it was raining and had rained a lot overnight. Hopefully the sun will make an appearance soon again.
It was great to have a break from the "Everyday Same"
Good night everybody ☺

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Not Happy...

I am not a Happy Camper :-( Cliff and I have been playing Mexican Train dominoes as I wrote before. The first time I won big time and bragged about it in my Blog. My bragging must have jinxed it because I have not won another game!!! 7 games - 6 losses for me. I told Cliff tomorrow we'll play Rummy ☺. Am I a poor looser???? After 6 losses I think I have a right to be.
Other than that my days have been great. The sun has warmed the house to the extend that after the initial fire in the morning we did not have to add any more wood and the house has been toasty warm.
As usual we have been shopping a few times. Once we picked up some Ambrosia Apples. They have to be my favourites. It is amazing how crisp they still are.
Yesterday Cliff's niece and husband came for an unexpected visit in the afternoon. They brought a very tasty loaf of banana bread. I had just made a batch of oatmeal raisin cookies so we had a good feed of both. I don't normally bake too much because Cliff and I are both bad when it comes to sweets so I try not to have any in the house.
As usual today was laundry day and everything is clean and fresh back in the cupboards. Nice feeling.
Now I wish everybody a good night ☺

A beautiful sunny day

but it is windy.
This morning I saw a Northern Flicker on the tree stump in front of our house. Cliff said he saw quite a few the other day feasting on our lawn. We know that this year there are lots of leatherjackets under the grass. They push up little piles of dirt so that's how we know. I have been waiting for the swallows to show up again. They were here the first time about 3 weeks ago and then again on Easter Friday during the storm but since then we have not seen them. Cliff had cleaned the two swallow houses we have on the garage. He found a wasp nest in one. That is the one that originally had a rats nest in it when we received it from a friend. Even though Cliff cleaned it no swallow would nest in it. This year he really scrubbed it and painted it and also changed position with the other one. Maybe that is something they did not like. Last year they arrived on the 4th of April to stay so they are overdue. I sure hope they still come because I love to watch them fly when I am drinking my tea after lunch.
I made a chicken curry on rice with cauliflower and a big salad for lunch with enough leftover for another meal. I also made a pea soup for tonight. We had some of the pepperoni left over from the pizzas I made. It was pretty salty so Cliff would rather have it in a soup. It makes the soup pretty tasty.
We started both fires this morning but with the sun it is getting too hot in the house and I had to open the kitchen window while I was cooking. I'll be glad when heating season is over. It's messy :-( just like Janna says in today's Blog.

Until I'll write again I hope you all have a great time.

Laundry Monday

Lots to do today but nothing interesting.
We had a good Easter with friends coming over for the afternoon. Instead of a big Easter Dinner I served homemade Pizza. I usually make 6 at a time and freeze what we don't eat at once.  We really enjoyed them with a glass of wine and our favourite sour cherry Torte afterwards.
Now I think that I will stop blogging for awhile but I will still read all of the Blogs I am following.
Hope everybody will have a great Summer.
Good night everybody ☺

The Perfect Storm!

It was wicked yesterday. The storm started here at 10 AM and it did not take long before the power went off. Luckily we saw it coming and had the computers shut down and disconnected from the electricity. At times the trees were at a 30 degree angle. I have not seen it like this for a long time. Cliff called Hydro at the beginning of the power outage and was told it might come back on at 4 PM He decided to get the generator going so we could have some light since we were doing our taxes.
At one time we heard a big crash and Cliff later on found out that a tree had come down across our neighbour's driveway.  Cable was also down for awhile. We did not turn the computers on for the rest of the day. The storm carried on during the night but now it is calm again except there is another storm on the way for tomorrow. Our power came back on around 4 PM as predicted.
The Marina at Mill Bay has been totally destroyed. The pictures on the News were horrible. I feel so sorry for people whose boats were affected.  An acquaintance of ours has a boat moored there but had it up on the hard for cleaning and repair. He was sure lucky because it survived. We used to moor our boat there after we bought it but in the first winter it got scratched up during another terrific storm. As soon as it calmed down we sailed the boat to Maple Bay Marina instead.
Hopefully tonight we'll be able to sleep.
Good night everybody ☺

Income Tax

My head spins! I hate income tax time but it has to be done.
This morning I did a lot of housework and then started on the taxes but after awhile I had to quit to made lunch. After lunch we decided to do another quick drive to Duncan. Home Hardware had Dutch hoes on sale and Cliff has wanted one of those for awhile now. I also had to get a bunch of ingredients for the pizzas I will make for our get-together on Sunday. I know it's Easter Sunday but I like pizza just as much.
As soon as we returned I went back to the taxes. I'll be glad when that is all sent off. I know we owe taxes so there is actually not much of a rush.
We have been playing Dominoes every night and I am sad to say that after my initial win I have lost the last 3 games; so you see even though I'm the one who keeps score I still lose. Sooner or later my luck will have to change.
Time to watch TV.
Good night everybody ☺